Mounts v. St. David's Pavilion

• Decision Date: 11 December 1997
• Docket Number: No. 03-96-00710-CV,03-96-00710-CV
• Citation: 957 S.W.2d 661
• Parties: Linda MOUNTS, Individually and as Independent Administratrix of the Estate of Alisha Dawn Mounts, Appellant, v. ST. DAVID'S PAVILION; St. David's Support Corporation d/b/a St. David's Pavilion and St. David's Psychiatric Hospital; St. David's Hospital; St. David's Health Care System, Inc. d/b/a St. David's Hospital and previously d/b/a St. David's Community Hospital; and David Brown, M.D., Appellees.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 661

957 S.W.2d 661

Linda MOUNTS, Individually and as Independent Administratrix of the Estate of Alisha Dawn Mounts, Appellant, v. ST. DAVID'S PAVILION; St. David's Support Corporation d/b/a St. David's Pavilion and St. David's Psychiatric Hospital St. David's Hospital; St. David's Health Care System, Inc. d/b/a St. David's Hospital and previously d/b/a St. David's Community Hospital; and David Brown, M.D., Appellees.

No. 03-96-00710-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas Austin.

Dec. 11, 1997.

Charles B. Lord, Austin, for Appellant.

Jessie A. Amos, Brown McCarroll & Oaks Hartline, Austin, for Appellees.

Before POWERS, ABOUSSIE and B.A. SMITH, JJ.

BEA ANN SMITH, Justice.

Appellant Linda Mounts sued Appellees St. David's Pavilion and others (collectively the "Hospital") in a wrongful death and survivor suit alleging that the Hospital failed to prevent her daughter, Alisha Mounts, from committing suicide. The trial court entered judgment on the jury's failure to find that the Hospital negligently caused Alisha's death. Mounts filed a motion for new trial which the court denied. She now appeals the jury verdict as contrary to the evidence. We will affirm the trial court's judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On October 17, 1993, Alisha Mounts was admitted to St. David's Pavilion, a psychiatric care hospital. Upon admission, she was diagnosed as suffering from major depression, anorexia nervosa and dissociative disorder. She was classified as a suicide risk and immediately placed on level 3 watch. ¹ The next day she was taken off level 3 by her treating physician, Dr. Brown. Shortly after Alisha was admitted to the Hospital, an independent Alisha's mother, Linda Mounts, brought a wrongful death and survival suit ² against the Hospital alleging that its negligence proximately caused Alisha's death. At trial, Mounts claimed that the Hospital (1) negligently designed, constructed, installed, and maintained the shower rod in Alisha's room, and (2) negligently assessed, monitored and cared for Alisha. The jury trial lasted over two weeks, producing over three-thousand pages of testimony; both parties retained numerous expert witnesses. The jury failed to find that the Hospital negligently caused Alisha's death and judgment was entered on the verdict. Mounts now appeals the trial court's denial of her motion for a new trial claiming the jury verdict was contrary to the overwhelming weight and preponderance of the evidence.

psychotherapist, Barbara Grant, began private therapy sessions with Alisha as part of her treatment. On October 22, Alisha cut her wrists with a piece of broken glass and was placed on the highest level of suicide watch, level 4. On October 27, she was taken down to level 2 precautions where she remained until her death. During this five-day period, the staff checked on Alisha every thirty minutes and were always available for one-on-one discussion. On the night of October 31, Alisha visited with a friend in her room for several hours. After the visitor left, several staff members encountered Alisha within the hour, including Larry Denton who was assigned to check on her every thirty minutes. Alisha was last seen by a staff member around 10:45 p.m. Around 11:00 p.m., Denton knocked on Alisha's door but received no response. Finding the bathroom door closed, he left to enlist the aid of a female staff member. They found Alisha in the bathroom, hanging from the shower rod by a sheet which was tied around her neck. Her feet were touching the floor and she was unconscious. Alisha died three days later.

DISCUSSION

Mounts's sole point of error raises a factual sufficiency question. When reviewing a jury verdict to determine if the evidence is factually sufficient, we must consider and weigh all the evidence and should set aside the judgment only if it is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence as to be clearly wrong and unjust. See Cropper v. Caterpillar Tractor Co., 754 S.W.2d 646, 648-50 (Tex.1988), on remand, 767 S.W.2d 813 (Tex.App.--Texarkana 1989); Pool v. Ford Motor Co., 715 S.W.2d 629, 633 (Tex.1986). At oral argument, Mounts conceded that her appeal concerns the negligence of the Hospital only with respect to the shower rod. Therefore, we will review the evidence for support of the jury's failure to find that the Hospital negligently designed, constructed, installed, and maintained the shower rod in Alisha's room and thereby proximately caused Alisha's death.

In her cause of action, Mounts had the burden to prove that the Hospital owed a duty of care to Alisha, that the Hospital breached its duty, and that the breach caused Alisha's death. See Doe v. Boys Clubs of Greater Dallas, 907 S.W.2d 472, 477 (Tex.1995). Neither party contests the fact that the Hospital owed Alisha a duty of care nor that the shower rod was the cause-in-fact of her death. At issue is whether the Hospital breached its duty of care in choosing and installing the shower rod and whether the Hospital could have foreseen that its action or inaction with respect to the shower rod would result in Alisha's death.

Selection and Design of the Shower Rod

A hospital is under a duty to exercise reasonable care to safeguard the patient from any known or reasonably apprehensible danger from herself and to exercise such reasonable care for her safety as her mental and physical condition, if known, may require. See Harris v. Harris County Hosp. Dist., 557 S.W.2d 353, 355 (Tex.Civ.App.--Houston [1st Dist.] 1977, no writ); Harris Hosp. v. Pope, 520 S.W.2d 813, 815 (Tex.Civ.App.--Fort Worth 1975, writ ref'd n.r.e.). Mounts claims the Hospital was negligent when it installed the shower rod at issue because it is the type of instrument which reasonably presents a fatal danger to a patient in the suicide ward of a psychiatric hospital.

The evidence regarding the installation of the shower rod consisted of testimony by Malcolm Belisle, Nancy Townsend, and Morris Haney. At the time St. David's Pavilion was built, a committee was formed to assist with decisions concerning construction and equipment. Belisle was the chairman of the committee; other members included Townsend, a former administrator of a psychiatric hospital, and Phil Bible, the architecture firm's project coordinator and a previous chief architect for the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation (MHMR). ³ As project coordinator, Bible served as the liaison between regulatory agencies, the architecture firm and the Hospital to ensure that regulatory standards were met. The committee's main task was to design the psychiatric hospital to make it safe and functional. For example, special light screws, ventilation panels, mirrors, sink valves, shower heads, windows, and window blinds were purchased in the interest of the patients' safety. The committee was well aware of the potential danger a shower curtain system presents and spent substantial time investigating its options. There were no commercially available shower curtain systems designed specifically for psychiatric hospitals. Looking at industry practices, the committee found various systems in use. Some hospitals used a bead system, while others used an aluminum rod with a cut in the middle, or a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) rod without cuts. Although no specific state regulations or guidelines existed, the committee was told that MHMR found the PVC rod acceptable. Finding other curtain systems too dangerous, the committee selected 40 PVC pipe as a shower rod because of its flexibility. ⁴ Heavier pipe was rejected because it was too inflexible, making it possible for a patient to hang herself; lighter pipe presented a different danger--it shattered into a sharp weapon capable of inflicting injury. The 40 PVC rods were individually shaved down at the ends to ensure they fit loosely in the holders and would pop out easily if any weight was placed on the rod.

Although Haney, the general manager of a PVC pipe company, testified that 40 PVC pipe is one of the heaviest his company manufactures and that a three-foot section of that pipe could support two hundred pounds, other witnesses stated that the 40 PVC pipe as installed in the Hospital came down easily with very little weight. The committee tested the 40 PVC pipe installed with and without cuts in the middle. Belisle testified that both types came down easily but that the rod with cuts was unworkable...